Fire element (symbolism)

Fire is, in ritual language, the element of transformation: what passes through the flame is not the same as before. Plants of fire are those that burn on the tongue, that are burned, or that fire transforms — and every tradition that works with elements counts chilli, spirits and smoke among them.

The catalogue lists two species from Mexico here: chili pepper, whose capsaicin is literally a feeling of heat in the mouth, and blue agave, which fire and distillation turn into mezcal and tequila. The assignment to the element is recorded on the cards as a symbolic correspondence from tradition, not as an effect.

The heat of chilli is a real nerve signal of warmth — capsaicin triggers the same receptors as heat does, and the body answers with sweat and endorphins. That is the one point where the symbolism of fire and physiology speak of the same thing; with agave the 'fire' is in the distillate, that is, in alcohol, and the data on that are unambiguously bad.

Rites of passage with fire — burning the old, leaping over a flame, a candle for the dead — are studied by anthropology and psychology, and they agree: marking an end with a physical gesture helps. The effect is in the gesture, not in the plant that figures in it.

Fire in a ritual is fire: candles and incense never unattended, not near curtains, not within children's reach, not while asleep. Capsaicin does not belong in the eyes or on mucous membranes, and after handling chilli the hands are washed with oil or milk, not water.

Alcohol as 'the element of fire' is the commonest way a ritual becomes a harmful habit; the catalogue lists agave for its tradition, not as a recommendation to drink. And an urge to 'burn everything and start over' that returns with great intensity and then dies down can be a picture of a changeable mood — that is another topic and another professional.